Tonglu launches voucher campaign to help revive local consumption

Tonglu county, Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province, launched a consumption coupon campaign worth around 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) as a way to help revive local consumption on March 23.

Its two aims were to attract tourists to visit Tonglu, and to encourage locals to dine out and shop there, in an effort to boost consumption hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak especially in the catering and tourism sectors, according to Qi Li, the magistrate  of Tonglu.

If paying with a consumption coupon, people will need to pay only eight yuan for a bowl of noodles normally priced at 18 yuan. It should be noted that the restaurant's income will not decrease.

The campaign lasts from March 23 to April 10, and during the period, no less than 500,000 coupons will be promoted in batches on Alipay, covering six categories and 12 types of businesses. It will provide consumers with maximum discounts for homestay of 60 percent off, hotels at 50 percent off, restaurants at 40 percent off, as well as some free tours and daily red envelopes.

Tourists who spend over 1,000 yuan during the campaign will receive a local specialty gift package, which contains Tonglu native specialties such as honey, dried bamboo shoots, walnuts and dried sweet potato. The campaign has 10,000 gift packages prepared so far, according to Zhong Guanxian, the director of Tonglu commerce bureau.

All involved businesses have promised to carry out operations in good faith and will continue to strictly implement coronavirus epidemic prevention measures.

For more details the coupons, please scan the QR code to refer to Alipay.